Survival Survey: Tell us about your ‘survival’ food purchases

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I get tons of questions about so-called “survival” food. People want to know which brands taste best, which companies are most reputable, and what they should buy.

Tell us what you think!Image by Andrew Feinberg

I own food from numerous different companies, from Mountain House to Honeyville to Augason Farms to Thrive, just to name a few, and I’ve noticed there is a difference.

First of all, Mountain House, along with Wise Foods and Food Insurance sell “just add water” entrees, almost exclusively. That is not my preference or recommendation except for enough to provide emergency meals in an evacuation or short-term power outage. What I have in my own pantry are individual ingredients, since this makes a whole lot more sense when it comes to healthier meals with a lot of variety.

Over the years I’ve purchased a lot of Thrive foods from Shelf Reliance and became a consultant with them because I like their products and have never been disappointed in their taste. I also own quite a bit of food from Honeyville, another good brand, and recently stocked up on dehydrated foods from Ready Reserve.

I’m interested in knowing what brands and specific foods you have actually tried and what your opinion is of them. How did the food(s) rate in terms of appearance, taste, and value? Tell us about your purchases and opinions in the comment section below.

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Comments

Just short term so far. Organic cat food & protein bars. I have found some long term organic stuff, and will be experimenting with that soon. I did take a “first step” and cleaned out all the top shelves in my kitchen. When I put something up there, I get out my labeler and put the expiration date on the visible side of the case.

I’ve purchased my grains from Honeyville and have enjoyed grinding and using both the hard red and hard white wheat. The oat groats make wonderful oatmeal, too.

Being a coffee-drinking family, I also purchased green coffee beans from Coffee Beans Direct. So far, I’ve only tried roasting beans once, but it went well! It’s good to know that we’ll have that fresh cup of coffee in the morning….even if it’s made in our camping coffee pot over an open fire. :o)

I have mostly Mountain House freeze dried foods and baking supplies right with some MREs from them too that I bought because they were having a great sale. I will be buying some THRIVE also to see how they taste against each other. I am still working on this side of my food storage so I am trying to see what is out there.

I have been taking advantage of the seasonal sales at local grocery stores, such as canned fruits and veggies. I use coupons from our Sunday papers to add to my savings! We have also stocked up on canned Dak hams, which American Preppers Network gave excellent ratings. (I also found websites that gave many good uses for empty cans if we can’t get to the recyclable center!)

I have not purchased any branded survival foods, so I cannot comment on them. I garden and go to the farmers market to get veggies and fruit I dehydrate myself. I buy beans, rice and dry milk in bulk from my local grocery. I also try to have foods that dont need fancy storage like potatoes, onions and winter squash. I don’t store super long term. I eat what I store And I have enough to get us through until the garden can start producing enough again. As I am learning to cook and eat this way, its pretty good to occassionally fantastic.

I have a lot of dehydrated items from Harmony House. The vegetable soup mix is fantastic. It’s aroma filled my home, and it tasted like homemade. The broccoli and the carrots are very good. Based on that, I bought some dehydrated navy beans and two kinds of textured vegetable protein to try out. The only thing I wish they had is a cookbook. I’ll just have to experiment as I look for a book on cooking with dehydrated foods. Anyone know of a good one?

We are a small family. Mountain house has a shorter expiration date once open.I think it’s about a week or so. But individual ingredients like white rice will last much longer.

Instead of mountain house meals. Try buying just add water meals like bowl appetites or cup of soups. They are much cheaper and perfect for a short term emergency. Canned soups can be a great alternative for smaller families. We only keep enough just add water meals to last 5 or 6 days. We have enough canned soups to last a month.

We eat organic and from scratch as much as possible so it doesn’t make sense to have a large supply of ready to eat meals for us. Just enough to get through a short term emergency.

If you live by your self and can your own food. I think it would make sense to can things in smaller jars.

Thanks, Nora! I do buy things in smaller quantities and buy only what I know I will eat. A lot of online sources just seem to assume you are buying for a family. My family is two dogs and a cat. It’s easier to set stuff aside for them. lol

Linda, I think you can spread it out in other containers, especially if you use oxygen absorbers, and I noticed on the Emergency Essentials website they have a 2.5# listed (it says 1/4 of a #10 can). I intend to buy some of those to try out certain foods before investing in a #10 can or pail.

Linda – Yes, you can repackage the foods, as long as you understand that you’ve lost the “25-year” life expectancy. The opened #10 cans attract moisture as soon as you open them, but I’ve had good success with putting the extras in canning jars and FoodSaver bags. So far, I haven’t kept them any longer than 12 months, but they were as good out of my re-packaging as they were when I opened the original cans..

snb – The 2.5 cans are great! Like you, I bought some to try new foods, and it’s also a great way to get a variety when you only have a limited amount of money.

The #10 cans after being opened last 6 months to 1 year from what I have read. My number #10 cans get used up before then, but the products can be vacuum sealed. Just remember no light , and you can keep them in a dark room and they will hold much longer.

I owned mostly Thrive for a long while (mostly because of it’s ease in buying here in Canada, the other brands are harder to get up here) but after a trip to Utah I tried a few others and Preparedness Pantry scores HIGH on my list. They are my ultimate brand for price, taste, and quality.

That said, I also dehydrate almost all our food. The only thing I find to be better with a company is the powdered dairy, TVP (we don’t really eat meat), and freeze dried fruit. My kids eat the freeze dried fruit like candy and it is something I much prefer than actual candy! 🙂

I also garden and buy in bulk. I am new to gardening so my garden has not yielded enough to feed my family and I don’t have fruit trees. I dehydrate and can fruit I’ve gotten on sale. I also dehydrate the vegetables I did get from my garden and any that I am able to find on sale. We are vegetarian so I have decided to do most of the food prepping DIY style, I’m also leery of any processed foods. At least if I do the processing myself, I know what is in the food.

I like both Emergency Essentials (Provident Pantry foods) and Dehydratedfoodstorage.com (Rainy Day Foods). They both have excellent customer service, and although EE has lower prices, the other one has a greater variety of vegetables and legumes. EE carries a lot of non-food items, and if you get on their mailing list you’ll get a new catalog every month. Their website has a lot of helpful hints, a forum, and monthly give-aways.

Both of them offer 2.5 cans in some of their products, so you can try something without investing a fortune in it..Dehydratedfoodstorage has a #10 can of samples. It is literally packed full of a variety of food products (no more than 1/2 cup of each, if that) so that you can see if you like something before ordering a large can.

Since I’ve ordered different items from each of them, I can’t really offer a comparison. I like the powdered eggs and chocolate pudding, but the kids hate them. We use the beef and chicken TVP on a regular basis. My daughter loves the bacon bits, the ham was a waste of money, and we only like the sausage in spaghetti sauce. We use so much of the tomato powder that I can’t keep it in stock, and we’ve had good success with dehydrated corn and green peppers. I haven’t bought any of the “just add water” meals, but I’ve made my own out of the above products and stored them in canning jars and FoodSaver bags.

we do not buy from the emergency food stores we raise our own chickens for fresh eggs i hunt to bring in fresh meat and we have a very extensive garden we can everything we can we have apple trees pears plums blackberries blueberries we try to be as self sufficient as possible that way we do not have to depend on anyone for help the wife and i learned this a long time ago and it just makes good sense but we know everyone cannot do this so make your own decisions.

I only have one comparison, and it was freeze dried pineapple. The Thrive brand is wonderful, but very pricey. I got another less expensive brand (I forget now which one, I repackaged it after opening) and it was NOTHING like the Thrive brand. Thrive was far superior.

The sausage crumbles from Honeyville are fabulous. I tried the OvoCrystal (sp?) eggs and was totally disappointed. I don’t know if I did something wrong, but my family could not stand the eggs. I have tried making some of the meals in a jar, and it was said that they would last 5 years if vacuum packed with a food saver or using oxygen absorbers. (I generally do both when I make them. I don’t know if that helps, but it makes me feel better about it.) I have bought some of the dried potatoes from Sam’s, and they taste more like real potatoes than any others of that type that I have tried. I save them in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.

Potatoe Gems by Auguson Farms have to be our favorite. We could make a meal on them, yum! I have used the potatoe flakes put out by A/F, Honeyville, about the same in favor. If I were to purchase instant potatoes flakes, I’d buy off the shelf. As I have learned try it before you purchase to many of one thing, you might not like the taste.
You could end up with concrete potatoes, as I learned the first time I made the gems. Follow the directions….or you can use them for a concrete brick on your next building project.

I have a wide variety in my food storage. If I can get it at the LDS cannery, I do! The milk is the best from there! Grains are the least expensive (red and white wheat) there. It’s worth the trip if you can go. Beyond that, I have products from shelf reliance, augason farms, and provident pantry. I buy my hash browns from Sams Club and repackage into Mylar bags. I buy all my baking supplies at Sams as well. The flour is the freshest and cheapest.

I have Thrive vegetables and freeze dried meats; some Mountain House camper meals that I like (chicken & mashed potatoes-yummy!); lots of bulk stuff from Costco; grocery store stuff on sale; a fully loaded freezer with meat, chocolates(baking & eating), and freezer saver bottles; and a larder that is bursting at the seams. I also am learning canning, which I have found fun and thrifty!! I am working on cooking through the freezer and larder items as their shelf life is limited. I want to add more long term storage foods. I always have at least 3 -50 pound- dog food bags in reserve, but that doesn’t ease my mind. (All of us have read “One Second After”, right?) I have asked Blue Buffalo on tips for dry packing their dog food; the email reply insinuated that I was nuts. So, my next goal is to investigate companies that are already survival packing dry dog foods: what their quality is, how long it keeps, etc.

I have been storing food for many years. I have never purchased the expensive freeze dried/dehydrated foods but have always purchased in bulk. My staples are whole corn, dried beans, powdered milk, salt, sugar and olive oil. I purchase 50# bags of corn from the feed store, the beans and oil from Sam’s Club, and my powdered milk and sugar from a nearby LDS cannery that graciously allows us to purchase and can although we are not members of the Mormon church. I have an extended family that I will have to feed if (when) everything falls apart, and I am concerned with storing a quanity of food at an affordable price. I live in a wonderful, small neighborhood, and have no intention of shooting my neighbors when difficult times come, so storing extra food to help them is also a priority. I have a large garden to provide fresh vegetables and am most concerned with storing sufficient protein foods (corn, beans & milk) and fats (olive oil). I have some #10 cans of dried apples and vegies from the LDS cannery and have a large pantry stocked with canned goods that we use everyday but that will supply us with canned goods for several weeks in an emergency. I also have a large quanity of frozen garden seeds, enough to supply everyone in my neighborhood with seeds to grow a garden.

I’ve used Ready Reserve for years. My family eats the vegetables all the time. Better than most of the fresh food I used to get at the grocery store (especially during the winter). In fact, the ladies in their office have become friends of mine over the years. Very knowledgable staff and kind. In the past, we used Mountain House, but we’re picky eaters and the pre designed entrees wern’t exactly our favorite. Now that we have a small child, beef stroganoff every night doesn’t sound very good for any of us. 🙂